70th Anniversary Meet Report
Spenser Gray
The 70th Anniversary of the club had been bandied about as something which needed celebrating for some time within the committee when it occurred to me that perhaps we should experience some of the routes which would have been climbed by our predecessors on the day of the first club meet (although this was approximately two weeks before the formation of the club. A quick perusal of the 50th Anniversary Journal identified that our first meet was at Black Rocks.
“Not ideal” if the first thought which comes to mind, especially not at the end of March! Anyway, in the absence of any other ideas it seems to become part of the plan.
Fast forward nine months and somewhat amazingly there are somewhere around 25 members of the club either climbing or milling around the bottom of the crag (some of whom have doubtless been lured out by the idea of home made welsh cakes). Mike Mowbray and Neil Thompson decided to attempt to climb all of the starred VSs on the crag. Several members wandered round to the greener side of the crag, did a route and then promptly decided not to return! I foolishly agreed to retrieve some gear for Colin Hobday from a route, on finding out what the route was (Fatman’s Chimney) I somewhat regretted this decision! Some classic Black Rocks shuffling followed, I found that no limbs were required to hold me in place if I breathed out at the narrowest point and then suddenly the chimney widened out. I breathed a sigh of relief that Nigel Berry wouldn’t be required to lubricate me out from the depths of the crag with olive oil in his role as a member of Derby Mountain Rescue Team and topped out to be greeted by some of the local yoofs asking all sorts of curious questions about trad climbing.
Not too many metres away Mike Mowbray was busy engaging with the greenness on Sand Buttress when he was suddenly greeted by a half full can of lager flying past, unfortunately the locals weren’t willing to provide a full one for him to have a drink after he finished the route!
All in all the day gave members an opportunity to experience some of the routes climbed by our predecessors, eat some tasty cake and and engage with the local wildlife (purporting to be human teenagers)!
This was nicely rounded off by a fantastic talk from Paul Gardiner (below) and a rather peaceful AGM.
Oread 70th Anniversary Musings
Paul Gardiner
There are times in life when you think “What am I doing here?” Tonight my thoughts centre on “What am I still doing here?” Let’s take that a bit further – what are we all doing here? I know we are here for a meeting at which important things will be discussed, votes will be cast – but why in this room? Well, it is the room next to the one where the club – and I do mean The Club – because there were only ten or twelve of us, would meet. It was a little dark room, lit by one oil lamp. We’d be sitting round a table, sometimes being counselled by the great Eric Byne about production of the first gritstone guides whilst the Licensee, Gladys Olivant, went down the stone steps into the cellar to draw the beer and bring the jugs up. The first Oread AGM, after one year, was held here so this place is part of Oread tradition and it is entirely appropriate that we should be here at the Robin Hood on this occasion.
But why am I standing here? Well, I’ll tell you. A couple of weeks ago I was walking down the Lathkill – which was in spate. As I wandered down, climbing up the bank now and again to keep my boots out of the water and thinking “this ain’t a bad way to spend my birthday” I became aware of a voice raised behind me saying something like “Paul, I think you are going to be asked to speak at the AGM.” Well – I was enjoying my birthday up till then! I thought they’d perhaps forget it – but no, the screw was turned by receipt of a letter from the President asking me to speak. A proper, hand-written letter, delivered through the post. Now, a letter from the President of the Oread is not to be taken lightly, believe me!
Speak about the early days – well, there is no way I could do it as well as the article George Sutton wrote at the start of the 50th Anniversary Journal, followed by the one from Dave Penlington. Those articles describe beautifully where we were at. I recommend a read – or a re-read. However there are personal memories. What had we got in 1949? Ex servicemen, George, our founding father, he’d done a bit, got boots and a rope; Harry Pretty, back from crashing a few planes with the Fleet Air Arm, along with Molly of course; and Keith Axon – I can see Keith now in his long parachuting jacket, rolling a fag. Ex servicemen, looking perhaps for a bit of excitement and the camaraderie they’d known in the forces. And then of course there was Nan Smith, with her beautiful blond hair, later to marry Keith, she was a breath of fresh air. And then there were the Youths, the Appprentices – Dave Penlington, Roy Edwards, Ed Say, Joe Moore, one or two others who didn’t stay the course, and me. These lads didn’t quite fit the mould of the time – football, cricket, the pictures on a Saturday night. No, these youths had already been out on their bikes to explore the far reaches of the county – remote spots like Brassington, Ilam, Hartington, freewheeling all the way down the Via Gellia into Cromford. While the oldies met in a cafe to make plans the lads met in the Students’ Union at Burton Technical College after classes to discuss important things like what was new in the window of our Mecca – the Army Stores. This is where we went to get kitted out – it was a time of austerity.
I wll remember that one night we had got hold of a typewritten stock list from Ellis Brigham – I ‘lll share this with you as you put on your harness with all the ironmomngery dangling down and go up and put your runners in…. The list had on it, among other strange things SNAP OVAL KARABINERS – and we looked at each other and said “I wonder what they are for?” Yes, we’ve come on a bit in 70 years.
On a personal note, I came by a pair of boots, they probably cost me three or four weeks wages. I took them to the local cobbler, plonked them on his counter together with a bag of nails – tricouni 7s, triple hobs and clinkers and told him how they should be fitted. Certainly a first for him. There were waterproof sleeping bag covers, stitched from the fabric panels of barrage balloons – stuff was hard to come by – but enough of that. We did get out – sometimes we’d share a coach with another club – it cost us ten shillings – that’s 50p for the weekend! I well remember the Cwm Sylin trip when the bus got wedged fast between the walls of the narrow lane…….
You may wonder why the Oread survived. There were a number of local clubs starting up – the Valkyrie, the Stonnis and so on. Clubs that sprang up, hit the climbing headlines for a month or two and just as quickly disappeared, some of their members ending up in the Oread. Well, the club gradually expanded, gathering members from Derby and further afield, meeting in the Bell on Sadlergate on Tuesday nights to plan the weekend. We kept gathering characters who could laugh and didn’t take themselves too seriously, full of a ribald type of humour which continues.
Over the years we’ve been thrilled by the expeditions, the first ascents, the climbs in far-flung places of the world. Long may it continue. Just remember as we celebrate the first, so called “meet” at Black Rocks on 20 March 1949, the club did not exist. Neither did it two weeks later when we went back again. The meeting to inaugurate the club took place on 21 April. You will see that this year 21 April will be Easter Sunday. What better day to launch into the next 70 years?
And so, as we celebrate, how do we assess the passage of time? In 1949 the only official piece of paper we had was a Trent bus timetable to get us out of Burton to Derby and onward. We’ve picked up a lot of baggage since then – property, insurance, and now we have this: – The new Constitution. It shows how we have had to embrace Health and Safety, Equal Opportunities and so on. I salute the members who have put it together. It’s very good, read it, you may need it, then put it away in a drawer and, sometimes, as you get out into the hills, just recall the words the Constitution used to begin with:
“Mountaineering Regardless.”